The Widow's Might

by Mona Shaw

"And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury;  for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”  Mark 12:41-44 

I’ve never been prouder to be a member of the poor and working classes than I am during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.  We’re always the ones who save the day.  We’re always the first to put our lives on the line. We’re the ones cleaning the hospitals and bathing patients. We’re the ones stocking the grocery store shelves and cleaning the streets. We’re the ones putting bodies into refrigerated trucks. We’re the ones driving mass transit and laboring in factories and warehouses to get people what they need.

We’re also the first to die, and more of us will die than those who miss sit in lush penthouses missing their 5-star restaurants.  But, we still show up, because we have more compassion and a greater sense of responsibility than they. Like the widow with her mite, we give all we have to give.

We’re the ones making masks and feeding the poor. We’re the ones rattling the cages to find shelter for the homeless.  We’re also the ones giving our widow’s mite as we can so those suffering the most can suffer less.

We’re also the ones the affluent will take for granted. They will continue to abuse us and put us in unnecessary peril to fatter their wallets. We are the ones who can and will create justice for our people.

We’re always the ones who trip the trigger toward justice. From Haymarket Square to the suffragettes in Winson Green Prison to the Edmund Pettis Bridge to the Stonewall Inn, we’re the only ones who ever changed anything for the good. The others only came along after we forced or shamed them into it. And it’s always taken longer to get to them than it should have.

We are the ones who are essential to human survival. Life cannot go on without us. May we never again forget our importance to the world. May we do everything in our power to stop the temples of Wall Street from taking us for granted. May we claim and exercise the power of the people. It will always be true that the people united cannot be defeated. The widow has might.

In the immortal words of Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath.

"I'm learning one thing good, Learnin' it all the time, ever' day. If you're in trouble or hurt or need – go to poor people. They're the only ones that'll help – the only ones.’

"Rich folk come up an' they die, an' their kids ain't no good an' they die out. But we keep acoming, Pa, cus' we're the people.”